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HORTICULTURE 



May 1, 1909 



ROSES UNDER GLASS. 

 A I'liper OH ■'CoiiipiuativL' Uosults" by 

 Louis J. Ueuter, Westerl.v, U. 1., be- 

 fore the Gardeners' and l-'lorists' 

 Cliib or ISoston. 

 It has been somewhat of a puzzle to 

 me to know what line to take In talk- 

 ing on roses at this meeting. Although 

 I sometimes find myself talking as 

 though I really had very definite ideas 

 on methods of growing roses I gener- 

 aly get back again to the point where 

 I think that I am only a. student and 

 that what seems to be a settled fact to- 

 day is surrounded by questions tomor- 

 row. 



The subject "Roses" is broad enough 

 in a way but when I come down here 

 to your shows I am stnick with the 

 idea that the growers for this market 

 know quite a lot about roses. It would 

 be much easier for me to show what I 

 don't know- that it would what I think 

 I know. Consequently 1 shall not try 

 to say anything regarding culture in 

 general. The Boston growers know 

 some things about growing most any 

 crop. Anyone who is not aware of 

 that had better come here to some of 

 the shows. He will see exhibits of all 

 kinds and will find that within a not 

 very great distance from Boston there 

 are located men who can hold their 

 head up with the best in all lines, so 

 I have decided to say a few words in 

 the way of comparing the results from 

 a few of our standard varieties. 

 Bridesmaid Outblooms Bride. 

 Of course, we must consider Brides 

 and Bridesmaids first and my first im- 

 pulse was to escape the bother of fol- 

 lowing out a maze of figures and say 

 that these two varieties were alike in 

 productiveness but I met a surprise 

 there. Whether this is only a local 

 condition or not I am not prepared to 

 say but I found the Bridesmaid to pro- 

 duce the better. It has always been 

 apparent to me that our stock of this 

 variety was a little more thrifty, bet- 

 ter able to resist mildew, etc., and I 

 was a little bit reluctant to pass by 

 the opportunity while 1 was poring 

 over our records of satisfying myself 

 as to the productiveness of these two 

 old standbys. I found that our plants 

 have cut as high as twelve blooms 

 more of Bridesmaids than of Brides 

 for the year. This number i-epresents 

 the limit, but in every case Brides fell 

 short. As to the average price on these 

 two there is little to be said. They 

 hold about the same in the long run. 

 This leaves the Bridesmaid with an 

 advantage. 



Killarney's Advantage. 

 Next we come to Killarney. This 

 variety takes kindly to our conditions 

 and we are able to get good stems and 

 good color, but it is hardly as good a 

 producer as Bridesmaid, and here is 

 one important point to be considered. 

 We cut short and weak-stemmed 

 blooms of the latter while on Killarney 

 we cut nothing less than Xo. 1 grade. 

 All short breaks are pinched and left 

 for double joint stems. The market 

 price also favors the Killarney and 

 with the public inclining to it when a 

 pink rose is wanted, we must place it 

 at the head of the list. How long this 

 condition will last is a question. 

 Bridesmaid had been the only standby 

 as a pink rose for quite a number of 

 years and we are now glad for a change, 

 but the buying public are not going to 

 be satisfied with nothing but Killarney 



as a pink rose any more than they 

 were with Bridesmaid. Of the new 

 ones none seems more likely to suc- 

 ceed in taking a share of the honors 

 than My Maryland. It will by no 

 means crowd out Killarney, but it will 

 find a place if it can be grown proper- 

 ly. (Regarding this I want to say a 

 few words later.) 



Richmond, Chatenay, Jardine, Reid. 



Richmond does not take kindly to 

 our soil. I can hardly think that other 

 gi-oweis who cut such excellent blooms 

 get as low returns per plant as we do. 

 We cut good stock, but not enough of 

 them and are trying to find a soil 

 which will suit them better. Another 

 year we may find different results, but 

 our experience thus far has not been 

 very satisfactory. Chatenay is a heavy 

 producer, ranking close to Bridesmaid 

 and is really a surprise when the sea- 

 son's average is considered. In grad- 

 ing there Is an advantage at once, a 

 good percentage of blooms being No. 1 

 and better. There are two main rea- 

 sons why this rose is not more gener- 

 ally grown. First, it has a bud too 

 light for warm weather. Until the 

 cool nights come on it is impossible to 

 cut blooms with sufiicient body for 

 them to be salable and the same con- 

 dition exists by the early part of June. 

 The other reason is that the buying 

 public seem to consider Chatenay only 

 as a novelty. A limited quantity will 

 find a good sale but I don't think it 

 would be wise to plant very heavily. 

 Mrs. Jardine has not been a success 

 with us, it being shy and also weak in 

 color during the time when the sun is 

 strong. A perfect bloom of this rose 

 is really very handsome and such 

 blooms as were offered in the Phila- 

 delphia market at Christmas time 

 would always find a ready sale at a 

 good price. Rhea Reid has been a 

 stubborn variety and we found it 

 necessary to discard it early this 

 spring because it was not paying and 

 we needed the room. 



Bride's Great Rival. 

 With the coming of White Killarney, 

 Bride will have its first strong compet- 

 itor and there seems little doubt that 

 this grand new rose will be received 

 with a strong welcome. It seems to 

 be the general opinion of the store 

 men w-ho had a good chance to form 

 an idea, that this variety will prove a 

 strong favorite for some time at least. 

 It surely will be as good a producer as 

 Pink Killarney and consequently 

 should be more profitable than Bride. 



My Maryland, Its Behavior and Pros- 

 pects. 

 Now for a few more words concern- 

 ing My Maryland. There has been a 

 great deal said about this variety late- 

 ly and several articles in the trade 

 papers which have spoken well for the 

 rose have kept well within the bounds 

 of truth. There is no good reason for 

 doubting the great value of My Mary- 

 land as a forcing rose and not only is 

 it good in winter, but it is especially 

 good in the summer. The blooms 

 have good substance, enough petals 

 and hold their color so well that it will 

 surely be appreciated during- July and 

 August. It is not susceptible to mil- 

 dew or black spot and as a producer I 

 believe that the best we now have will 

 be pushed to hold first place. No 

 doubt it has been inclined in some 



places towards resting this winter, but 

 is that surprising? We didn't know 

 the rose and its requirements and 

 practically every one who grew it took 

 every eye that could be used for graft- 

 ing or cuttings, robbing the plants so 

 much that it is not at all strange that 

 the cuts were not heavy in some cases. 

 It is a fact, however, that it has been 

 made to produce very well by quite a 

 few growers this year even through 

 the most trying part of the season and 

 I will venture to say that next year 

 will tell us a different story. We don't 

 know yet how good it can be grown 

 and it is very probable that we have 

 heard the worst and only a small part 

 of the good. 



Number of Blooms Per Plant. 



I will try to give an idea as to what 

 some of the varieties I have mentioned 

 may be expected to cut. I have never 

 gathered any definite ideas as to what 

 other growers can get from their 

 plants, but the following statements 

 will give some faint idea at least as to 

 what a plant may do. There are sev- 

 eral things to be considered in staling 

 what a lot of roses will cut per plant. 

 Where the cut is given from a house 

 of first \ear stock we must consider 

 when the stock was housed, whether it 

 was in the spring or June or July. It 

 we are speaking of carried over stock 

 we must consider how they have neen 

 handled. We have cut from one house 

 up to aate, twenty months wi'hout a 

 break. The plants were not rested last 

 summer and are still doing well. In 

 this case a count may be taken for a 

 full twelve months. 



Where we rest a house each summer 

 and carry it over two or more years, 

 it is possible to count on ten months 

 flowering. This is an advantage which 

 carried over plants have over young 

 stock planted each year, but when the 

 stock passes the third year they seem 

 to gradually cut less, and two or three 

 years at the most seems to be the 

 limit for growing our forcing roses. 

 Prom a house of Bridesmaids which 

 cut ten months in their second year 

 we took fifty-three blooms per plant. 

 This same house is cutting well now 

 in its third year and had no rest last 

 summer, but it will not equal that cut 

 this year. 



The best cutting we have done for 

 ten months on Brides was forty 

 blooms per plant and Killarney thirty- 

 eight to forty, but the Killarney had 

 hardly the full ten months to its 

 credit. Chatenay has cut for us forty- 

 two blooms for eight-and-one-half 

 months, during which time the buds 

 were of good quality, but to have run 

 them longer into the summer would 

 have been of little consequence. I 

 cannot give an average cut from Rich- 

 mond as we have never handled them 

 in a way that will permit comparison 

 with our other sorts. 

 Other Factors in Estimating Relative 

 Value. 



These records which I have men- 

 tioned do not mean that these are 

 given because they are the best cuts I 

 could find, but are simply a statement 

 of last year. A house of roses may no 

 doubt be made to produce better than 

 these and it is also true that we may 

 expect to fall below these figures at any 

 time. All I have in mind is to give a 

 general idea of the matter. 



When foiming conclusions as to the 



